Saturday, November 14, 2009

As another swine flu death and 80 more positive cases were reported across the state on Friday, the health department sent a reminder to districts to submit by Monday an action plan to contain spread of the disease.

Even ten days after they were asked to prepare an action plan for containment and management of swine flu during a meeting held by chief minister Ashok Gehlot, none of the district authorities have submitted the same.

The health department directed all district collectors to hold meetings with health officials at the level of primary health care centres and issue directions accordingly.

The department also took serious note of transferred doctors who have not reported to duty so far. "District collectors have raised the issue of non-joining by doctors. Directions have been given for doctors to join within three days, or disciplinary action will be taken against them," said Dr O P Gupta, director, public health.

While all routine training programmes of doctors have been postponed in view of the swine flu pandemic, no doctors will be relieved for training programmes other than swine flu. The health department has also instructed district administration to maintain an adequate stock of preventive kits and virus transport medium.

As the department experiences a shortage of doctors, walk-in interviews at district level for hiring contractual doctors have been allowed. To spread public awareness on the H1N1 virus, mobile phone and short messaging service (sms) will be used. Of the 80 new cases reported on Friday, 72 were from Jaipur alone, Jodhpur reported 4 cases, while Ajmer and Bikaner reported 2 cases each. Of these, 62 are children. The death of a 40-year-old swine flu patient was also confirmed in Ajmer, taking the state toll to 21. So far, 535 persons have tested positive for the disease in Rajasthan.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Swine flu spreads four times faster than other viruses and 40 percent of the fatalities are young adults in good health, the world's top health official warned in an interview appearing Saturday.

"This virus travels at an unbelievable, almost unheard of speed," World Health Organisation Director General Margaret Chan told France's Le Monde daily in an interview.

"In six weeks it travels the same distance that other viruses take six months to cover," Chan said.

"Sixty percent of the deaths cover those who have underlying health problems," Chan said. "This means that 40 percent of the fatalities concern young adults -- in good health -- who die of a viral fever in five to seven days.

"This is the most worrying fact," she said, adding that "up to 30 percent of people in densely populated countries risked getting infected."

Chan's warning came a day after the WHO said the virus had overtaken others to become the most prevalent flu strain.

"Evidence from multiple outbreak sites demonstrates that the A(H1N1) pandemic virus has rapidly established itself and is now the dominant influenza strain in most parts of the world," the UN agency said in a statement.

"The pandemic will persist in the coming months as the virus continues to move through susceptible populations," it added.

Chan underlined that emergency and healthcare services in several countries had come under strain and stressed that resources allocated for cancer patients and those suffering from heart disease should not be diverted.

"One must not rob Peter to pay Paul," she said. "All governments must prepare for the worst."

She said the most important thing in the battle against the virus was "political leadership."

More than 2,180 people around the world have died from the virus since it emerged in April, according to the latest WHO figures.

Chan also said that it could be months before sufficient vaccine is available to combat the pandemic.

She put world production capacity at 900 million doses a year, for a global population of 6.8 billion people.

Even if this was an unprecedented effort, and authorities were speeding up procedures for getting vaccines to the market, there should be no question of compromises on their safety and effectiveness, Chan said.

Britain and France received their first batches of swine flu vaccine this week. Australia on Friday said a massive swine flu vaccination programme would start in October and Turkey hopes the first supplies of the vaccine will come by that time.

While 90 percent of severe and fatal cases occur in people aged above 65 in seasonal flu, most of those who die from swine flu are under the age of 50.

A "very severe form of disease" affecting the lungs and causing severe respiratory failure among young and healthy people was being reported, WHO said Friday, adding that highly specialised care was required.

Large numbers of such patients could therefore "overwhelm" intensive care units and disrupt the provision of care for other diseases, it warned.

In the southern hemisphere where the flu-prone winter season is tailing off, the WHO said cities in several countries had reported that nearly 15 percent of hospitalised cases required intensive care.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

1. The most recent form of swine flu, known as the H1N1 influenza virus, was first detected in the United States in April 2009.

2. Scientists say the H1N1 virus contains a mixture of genes from four different flu viruses: two genes from flu viruses normally found in pigs in Europe and Asia and two found in avian and human genes in North America.

3. The swine flu, a respiratory virus, spreads from person to person mainly through coughing or sneezing. The virus is not spread through food such as pork or pork products.

4. As of July 27, the World Health Organization confirmed 134,503 cases of swine flu and 816 deaths from the virus worldwide. WHO predicts that the virus will infect 2 billion people over the next two years.

5. Certain people, such as those 65 years and older, children younger than 5, pregnant women, and people with chronic medical conditions, are at a higher risk of more serious flu-related complications.

6. Doctors advise against "swine flu parties" where people intentionally try to get infected with a mild form of the H1N1 virus in hopes of becoming naturally immune to a deadlier form.

7. Symptoms of the recent swine flu are similar to those of the seasonal flu.

8. WHO declared swine flu a pandemic on June 11, making it the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.

9. About 160 million doses of the swine flu vaccine are expected to be available sometime in October.

10. Pregnant women with swine flu are more likely to be hospitalized, a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. They made up 13 percent of the 45 H1N1 deaths from April 15 to June 16.